President Obama faces a hostile House, a resurgent Russia and a sense of ... dare we call it malaise?

By
David Shribman

JewishWorldReview.com |
WASHINGTON -- So much about Washington seems unchanging from decade to decade, from generation to generation: The Capitol dome, shimmering in the blue-black sky of evening. The monuments, bleached white and inspiring reflection (Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson) and remembrance (World War II, Korea, Vietnam). The White House, majestic in its simple elegance. The tourists, clutching cameras and high hopes for the American experiment, even with more than a dozen dead of gun wounds a few blocks away.

And yet in a political system designed to be forever new -- the regular rotation of House members in biennial elections, the immutable four-year rhythms of a presidential term -- there is something new but deeply unsettling about the capital as summer melts into autumn this month. It is as if the center of gravity of the political system has shifted, or as if a system of exquisite balance has been disrupted.

It isn't any one thing but an accumulation of factors that have contributed to the word that dare not speak its name -- the word (malaise) that Jimmy Carter never actually uttered in a 1979 speech remembered in presidential infamy.

In its modern incarnation it has robbed Barack Obama's second term of its new-car smell, added a dreary sense of deja-vu to the looming budget showdown, stolen away in the night with America's reputation as the indispensable nation and transformed the last remaining shreds of contemplation into mere contention. Here are some of the symptoms:

• The president has lost his gyroscope.

Even in the most discouraging moments of his first term, President Obama knew where he was going and had a sure notion of how to get there. No more, and the Syria episode, now being celebrated by some as an example of the president's shrewdness (the end of Syrian chemical weapons without the start of American bombing!), is the principal example. The president's moral outrage was appropriate after last month's gas attacks, and the nation shared his sense of shock even as Americans were not in awe of his response, which was changeable if not inscrutable.

Still unanswered: the real timetable for the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons, the real motive of Vladimir Putin and the resolution of Mr. Obama's vow that Bashar Assad should pay a price for his actions.

• The country has lost, at least in the short term, its preeminence in world diplomacy.

For two generations the American narrative -- this was decidedly not the Soviet narrative, nor, after 1989, the Russian narrative -- was that the United States continually had to respond to Moscow's nefarious gambits: 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia, 1980 in Afghanistan, along with shady episodes of agitation in Nicaragua and Africa and support for rebellions in Korea and Vietnam.

In all those situations, in their renderings in the West, Moscow wore the black hat or at least hid one in the top drawer or back closet. Now, Mr. Putin, no exemplar of democratic values, has upended the narrative. He's taken the initiative in Syria, and in the United Nations, too, and he's the one wearing the white hat. "The greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker," the president whose style most resembles Mr. Putin's, Richard M. Nixon, said in his 1969 inaugural address. Mr. Putin is luxuriating in that title.

• The president has lost his influence on Capitol Hill.

Mr. Obama plainly could not carry his own party on Syria, which is one reason reasonable people might wonder why he decided in the first place -- no, it was actually the second place -- to kick the Syria can up to Capitol Hill. In doing so he only increased the specific gravity of an extremely unlikely coalition of liberals and libertarian conservatives that was drawn together by concerns over the growth of government surveillance and now comprises an unwieldy peacenik-isolationist caucus that could be dangerous to Mr. Obama in the coming years.

Not that the president has the customary prerogatives granted to chief executives, such as the benefit of the doubt among members of his own party on important appointments. Only a day before Lawrence H. Summers withdrew from consideration as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank, three members of the Senate Banking Committee, including a reliable ally, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, indicated they would not back the president's choice.

• The president has little reason for hope for the way forward.

New tax, spending and debt-ceiling confrontations are just around a dangerous corner. The president has to be admired for his patience, commitment and resilience as he bounces from one economic crisis to another, but there is little hope he will get his way, or even get a reprieve from House Republicans, who are not inclined or motivated to compromise with him.

Instead these House Republicans took heart from last week's Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll underlining the deep skepticism Americans still feel about the health care law that has become known as Obamacare. (Ronald Reagan once marveled that the opponents who described his economic policies as Reaganomics abandoned the name once it seemed his policies were working. Mr. Obama no doubt harbors the same hope.)

That opinion poll showed that less than a third of Americans thought the measure was a good idea, as opposed to 44 percent who condemned it. This was accompanied by poll findings showing that two-thirds of those polled acknowledged they didn't understand the law very well or only partially -- not a good sign for the president nor testimony to his marketing acumen.

The House no doubt will vote to repeal Obamacare a few dozen more times, a meaningless gesture except that it reinforces their determination to frustrate the president. Until the Summers withdrawal, the president was pinning his hopes on gaining GOP support for his Fed choice in the Senate (which, unlike the House, has confirmation powers). The president cannot count on Republican support for anything in the House.

The result is a season of frustration for Mr. Obama and few prospects for improvements in the political atmosphere for the remainder of year. Then comes winter. All signs point to a cold one.

David Shribman, a Pulitzer Prize winner in journalism, is executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Previously:

09/09/13 President Obama puts Syria to a vote in Congress, but must he respect the result?
08/19/13 Pragmatic vs. ideological: What does the GOP want in a president?
08/12/13 A touch of greatness
08/05/13 Captured by the North Koreans, the Pueblo's crew members suffered terribly, and some are suffering still
07/29/13 Politicians, heal thyselves: The president's latest campaign for change has little hope of succeeding
07/22/13 Latest example of a one-term president whose reputation has flourished after leaving office
07/08/13 Watergate's lone unmastered lesson
07/01/13 Before and after Gettysburg
06/24/13 Your life in the age of Big Data
06/17/13 America slips its bonds: Project Mercury lifted off in a more innocent time, but inspires us still
06/13/13 As the World War II veterans depart
06/03/13 Capitol culture shock: The Old Guard of the Senate valued honor most of all, and see little of it today
05/27/13 Patience is a virtue --- and a political strategy
05/20/13 Crossing sacred lines in Washington
05/06/13 The limited power of presidents
04/29/13 Living history on display
04/22/13 Social Security, 21st-century style: Dems call Obama a traitor
04/15/13 49 years, four months, 25 days: Today's America is as far removed from JFK's era as his was from World War I
04/08/13 The Senate as it once was
04/01/13 Connections and coincidence: History is full of mysterious relationships, including clusters of greatness
03/25/13 Where portraits tell the story of America's greatest conflict
03/18/13 A former president's correspondence reveals the power of letters, and the powerlessness of aging
03/11/13 Outrageous spectacle lead to a rational resolution on the budget? A nation can dream, can't it?
02/25/13 The one big thing Democrats and Republicans can actually agree on
02/18/13 Obama is wrong to make young people think college is mainly about making a living
02/11/13 The war inside the GOP
02/04/13 Presidential politics, frozen in place
01/28/13 Speech invokes past for present and future
01/14/13 If Obama's inaugural address is to be remembered at all
01/21/13 Identity crisis in the GOP
01/07/13 History meets firearms
12/31/12 In search of our better angels
12/24/12 Wounded in war, Inouye just kept serving his country
12/10/12 President as change agent
12/10/12 Another overtime election
12/03/12 Defining the Obama presidency: Our re-elected chief executive has the whip hand now, but how will he use
11/19/12 New Hampshire 2016
11/12/12 Obama's second chance
11/05/12 America's first martyr to free speech
10/29/12 Making hay in Iowa
10/15/12 When two men confronted each other from afar as civilization hung in the balance
10/08/12 If you look at the election a certain way, things don't seem so terrible
10/01/12 Debating the debates
09/24/12 Pessimists R Us
08/20/12 Obama remains a puzzle even as he asks the American people for a second chance
08/13/12 With Ryan, Romney upends the conversation
08/06/12 The real Romney remains hidden behind other people's opinions
07/30/12 What summer is for: How August can matter, and how Romney might use it
07/23/12 The Independent son of independent Maine promises to shake up Washington
07/16/12 The Rambler American
07/09/12 The Telstar revolution: Fifty years ago, a 3-foot orb was sent aloft and spawned a new era in communications
07/02/12 It's got only four electoral votes, but Romney and Obama will be fighting for them
06/25/12 A little noted rebellion over a lonely stretch of land helps tell the American story
06/18/12 You're nothing special: Luck is what you make of it . . . and what it makes of you
06/11/12 Anybody can talk authoritatively about the presidential election. Here's how
06/04/12 Candidates love to ally themselves with admired presidents, in sometimes unexpected ways
05/29/12 Americans aren't in a new burst of patriotism but they are in a new burst of appreciation for the military
05/21/12 Inside out: Almost nothing about this year's presidential election conforms to conventional analysis
05/14/12 Lugar grew into an elder statesman, which is why he'll be leaving the Senate
05/07/12 50 years later, MacArthur's farewell to arms continues to inspire
04/30/12 The likability factor: We're going to find out how important it is in these troubled times
04/23/12 Romney's four battles: With the nomination essentially in hand, he must turn to new challenges
04/16/12 For GOPers, expect the frustration to build, not abate
04/09/12 The political battles you cannot see
04/02/12 Romney's roadmap: Doing better in Democratic states may complicate his fall campaign
03/26/12 Romney struggles with same GOP forces his father faced long ago
03/19/12 The writer and the president
03/12/12 Romney could learn from his rivals after Super Tuesday
03/05/12 The GOP race continues, and Republicans continue to grouse about their choices
02/27/12 The turnout threat: when voters vamoose
02/20/12 The Winter's Tale: Republicans are engaged in a 'problem play,' full of psychological, and real, drama
02/13/12 Which Ike to like?
02/08/12 A tale of two elections: Voters today are making their most profound choice since 1912
01/30/12 Whither the GOP establishment?
01/23/12 The Democratic coalition is breaking up
01/09/12 The verdict that wasn't
01/02/12 These are the keys to who will persist
12/19/11 Another Gingrich rebellion
12/12/11 A defining fight for the GOP
12/05/11 A distinct lack of enthusiasm
11/28/11 For GOPers, the winds are beginning to pick up, the horizon is darkening
11/21/11 Today's polarized politics . . . blame FDR and the political scientists
11/11/11The sporting life
11/07/11 Ron Paul, true believer
10/31/11 Why Cain isn't able
10/10/11 GOP starting over
10/03/11 The Forgotten War of 1812
09/26/11 The way we live now
09/19/11 The crisis this time
09/11/11 But what will it mean?
09/05/11 A horse race column: Who might win the GOP nomination and how it might unfold
08/29/11 The vacuum calls
08/22/11 Passion and politics: How Barack Obama and Mitt Romney got crowded into the same dangerous corner
08/15/11 Eleanor's little village
08/08/11 The agony of August
08/01/11 The politics of the impossible: What a country this might be if the political class served the broad interests of the majority
07/25/11 Pennant fever grips 'Burgh
07/18/11 Exemplar of an era
07/11/11 On summer
07/04/11 The soul of the party
06/27/11 What the Secretary said
06/20/11 Romney has big advantages over his rivals, but they will be coming after him
06/06/11 One question each
05/30/11 The 14-week challenge
05/23/11 Delay tactics
05/16/11 Republicans are waiting
05/09/11 Bin Laden is dead. What does it mean?
05/02/11 From nobodies to nominees
04/25/11 The founders left slavery for future generations to settle, and we still haven't fully come to terms with it
04/18/11 From audacious to cautious
04/11/11 Dreaming of space
12/12/10 The GOP takes control
12/06/10 DECEMBER 7
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11/22/10 Burning down the House
11/15/10 Institutions of higher learning are finally beginning to teach important lifeskills
11/04/10 The war has just begun
11/01/10 Echoes of a speech 40 years ago this week still resonate today
10/25/10 50 years ago America chose between two men who were dramatically different --- and eerily similar